SMART little Antonia Verni dreams of being a kindergarten teacher when she grows up. Or a singer. Or to grace the stage as a ballerina.

That last goal, of course, is but a girlish fantasy. Because as Antonia sits in her wheelchair – her very breathing made possible by a machine – the child simply does not realize that she will never dance again.

“How can you explain that to a 7-year-old?” her mother, Fazila, said to me.

How do you tell a little girl that her future was stolen?

Yesterday, a New Jersey jury tried to soothe Antonia’s awful transition, from a healthy baby to a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. Jurors declared that the drunken driver who rammed into the Verni family car in 1999, injuring Fazila and costing Antonia the use of her limbs, did not act alone.

The last day Antonia walked, she was 2 years old. Now her existence is a precarious balance of technology and medicine.

Is she in pain? I asked her mother.

“She is,” said Fazila and she contorted her arms, terribly arching her back. She relaxed then performed the agonized pantomime again.

“Her muscles . . .” Fazila groped for the word to describe what her daughter feels. She has spasms? I asked. “Yes, spasms,” she said.

How often?

“Very often.”

In a decision I confess I find somewhat troubling, Aramark, the company that poured beer into the gullet of Giants fan Daniel Lanzaro one day back in 1999, was found even more responsible than he was for Antonia’s maiming. The jury ordered Aramark to pay $75 million in punitive damages – $65 million for the girl, $10 million for her mother.

The same jury on Tuesday ordered Lanzaro and Aramark to split another $60 million, for their pain and suffering. Lanzaro’s broke and in jail, so good luck.

Verni family lawyer David Mazie said the only way to prevent “more Antonia Vernis” is to hit Aramark in the wallet. I believe Lanzaro deserves a blame here. He chose to drink. And drink, and drink, and drink. He then decided to get behind the wheel, and he mowed down an innocent.

But company employees – from manager to the guys and girls who make a living getting football fans drunk – testified company brass told them to continue serving even obviously intoxicated patrons. And that stinks.

I asked Fazila Verni to tell me about Antonia. Don’t talk of the cripple, but about the smart, dreamy child.

“She has such a beautiful voice,” said her mom. She likes the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout.”

“She likes to sing, ‘Fly me to the Moon,’ ” said Fazila.

“Her smile gives me the strength to go on.” And for the first time this day, Fazila smiled.